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Every day, we encounter diverse forms of Design, whether on websites, brand packaging, social media, advertising, or many others. These resources educate, inform, entertain and evoke emotions within us. When integrated with business, Design plays a pivotal role in managing communication that bridges the gap between the company and its consumers, ensuring that the message resonates effectively with each target audience.
For many small business owners and entrepreneurs, Design often takes a backseat on their extensive to-do lists. Yet, it remains an indispensable tool for attracting customers, establishing a community, adding value, and staying competitive. Therefore, regardless of size, companies striving for relevance must prioritise Design; it's no longer a luxury but a necessity!
With that in mind, here are eight tips to help you establish a more cohesive communication for your business:
01. Know your target audience
Before building any communication material, you must clearly understand the audience you will communicate with. All communication must reflect the brand's personality and speak clearly to the target audience to create a relationship of trust.
The audience's needs, interests, desires and shared values should also be studied to tailor the communication to their expectations.
02. Stay consistent
One of the most critical factors in branding is consistency. When you implement a visual identity, you must maintain cohesion in all communication formats without changing elements that affect its recognition. Maintaining consistency throughout them creates a recognisable connection with the public and increases the brand’s impact and recognition.
03. Keep it simple
The audience usually absorbs the message better if the information is organised more simply and clearly. Overcomplicating the design by using multiple unnecessary elements can cloud the message and cause too much visual noise.
Ideally, you should keep your designs simple, but that doesn't mean they can't be edgy and innovative. A few tricks that can be used in these situations are reduced colour palettes, fewer images, taking advantage of white space, and using short and precise copy.
04. Be particular about typefaces
An essential element in graphic design is typography. Using the right font can be the difference between good and bad design. The widely accepted recommendation is to use only 1 to 2 fonts (not counting the brand's logo) in your designs. A simple and balanced selection of fonts helps to create appealing, clear and easy-to-interpret designs.
When in doubt, you should always opt for an easily readable font that fits the brand's personality and contrasts nicely with the background.
05. Take advantage of colours
Using impactful colour palettes is a way of guiding the audience's focus to what is most important. Contrasting colours create visual interest and highlight information; they are valuable elements that can help with engagement and message reception. However, using a too wide variety of colours is not recommended as it can become distracting and have the opposite effect.
06. Include Icons and secondary elements
Icons and secondary elements help clarify messages. Their aim is to direct the consumer's attention to relevant parts of the message. Adding icons or secondary elements to the designs helps create interest and dynamism, as well as helping clarify meaning.
07. Prioritise Mobile Optimisation
With the public’s increasing presence online, it's necessary to make communication adjustments and optimise it for this format. This means being up to date on the requirements of each platform, paying attention to element sizes so they can adapt to different screen heights and widths, and ideally opting for vertical images for mobile. All these details help optimise the user experience and, therefore, the content and its performance.
08. Keep your designs fresh and in trend
Although design principles don't change, design trends are constantly evolving, so it's essential to stay up to date. Creating a better connection with the public involves updating the design based on current trends. However, it's vital to keep brand consistency and only adapt partially to what's trendy.
The trick is identifying which trends best fit the brand's personality to draw inspiration and apply them to its graphic language.
In essence, design serves as a base for business growth, facilitating effective communication, problem-solving, and connection with the desired audience through visual elements that reflect the brand's values and goals.
By implementing these eight tips, you can develop a more cohesive communication strategy for your brand, ensuring that your message resonates clearly with your target audience in today's competitive and dynamic market.
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